This morning SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket enjoyed the first successful launch of its Dragon capsule. The capsule is designed to ferry supplies and passengers to the International Space Station. The company hopes to be delivering cargo by the end of 2011, and passengers by 2013. (Source: LA Times)

The launch is a great success for SpaceX founder Elon Musk and his company. (Source: SpaceX)

U.S. President Barack Obama faced a great deal of criticism for denationalizing U.S. space travel. Critics contended private corporations would fail and be unable to equal NASA's abilities. (Source: AP)

Musk's brilliant startup plans to send cargo to the ISS by the end of 2011, astronauts into space by 2013.

This
morning SpaceX became the first private corporation to launch a large
capsule into Earth orbit, marking a landmark in the exploration of
space.

At approximately 10:43 a.m. ET the
company's Dragon capsule launched from the U.S. National Aeronautics
and Space Administration's (NASA) Kennedy Space Center, aboard a
two-stage Falcon 9 rocket. The stages performed
flawlessly.

The launch began with the first stage's nine
powerful Merlin 1C engines roaring to life. As they died, the
first stage dropped as planned, and the rocket soared through the
upper atmosphere. The second stage, which employs Merlin Vacuum
engine, then began firing, propelling the rocket towards orbit.
The second stage then successfully separated, and the protective
capsule cone fell away just as planned.

The only remaining
objective is to test the capsule's heat shield for a successful
reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.

A
Victory for Elon Musk and President Obama

The
success thus far is a great validation for both U.S. President Barack
Obama and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Both men took great risks to
push the idea of commercial spaceflight from daydreams to
reality.

Mr. Musk, a flashy billionaire who made his
fortune co-founding PayPal, lives much like his comic book equivalent
Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) whose movie he appeared in earlier this
year (in fact Iron Man director Jon Favreau cites musk as the
inspiration for Robert Downy Jr.'s take on Stark). Mr. Musk
turns notions of lackadaisical fortune barons on their head, betting
on outlandish endeavors and working slavishly to see them to
success.

Mr. Musk co-founded Tesla Motors, America's first new
major automaker in 54 years. He spent $400M
USD of his fortune to advance SpaceX to its current point of
success. The entrepreneur serves as CEO for both companies,
frequently spending 100+ hours a week on his duties. He was on
hand personally supervising the launch, of course.

Much like
with Tesla Motors, many sneered at Mr. Musk's claims -- and some
still do. Mr. Musk claims that by the end of 2011, SpaceX will
be delivering cargo to the International Space Station and within
three years his company will be able to deliver astronauts to it at a
cost $30M USD per astronaut less than his sole competitor -- the
Russian Federal Space Agency. Many doubt he will succeed.

SpaceX has secured a number of large
launch contracts from corporations and the U.S. government already
thanks to that success. So it might be folly to bet against its
next objective -- to become the first commercial entity to put
astronauts in space.

The success is also a win for U.S.
President Barack Obama. Facing a large budget deficit, thanks
in part to his expensive stimulus measures, President Obama made the
painful decision of cutting back on NASA funding, deciding to turn
to commercial companies like SpaceX and rival startup
Orbital Sciences to provide its transportation needs.

That was
a huge risk. While past Presidents and members of Congress had
long talked about offloading launch duties to commercial entities, no
one had been able to do it. President Obama's critics were
quick to blast the plan, labeling it the
end of spaceflight.

What's
Next?

As
mentioned the capsule still has to complete a low-Earth orbit (LEO)
and successfully touch down.

Assuming success, the
rocket should begin ferrying cargo to the ISS later next year.
It will have a capacity of 6,000 kg, with a return cargo capacity of
3,000 kg. The average cost per flight will be under $5,360
USD/kg. The previous
cheapest launch vehicle [PDF] was Russia's Rockot, a
converted ICBM, which delivered cargo for $7,297 USD/kg (the Russian
Sh'til was also rumored to be very cheap, but its launch was
subsidized at an undisclosed rate by the Russian Navy, rendering
valid comparison impossible). The U.S. Space Shuttle, the
primary U.S. workhorse, had costs of around $10,400 USD/kg.

Then
in 2013 it is expected to carry astronauts to the ISS for the first
time. The passenger variant of the Dragon capsule can carry up
to seven people, or a mix of crew and cargo. It will be
competing with Boeing, who also
designing a passenger spacecraft.

Given its reasonable
launch costs, it would be surprising if SpaceX didn't jump into the
burgeoning space tourism business. Currently Richard
Branson's Virgin Galactic enjoys reign over this sector, but
his Spaceships One & Two reaches only 100 km -- which while the
"edge of space" isn't true low earth orbit. LEO
begins at around 160 km. SpaceX would likely offer a pricier,
but more impressive tour of space.

And it may be overly
forward looking, but it would not be surprising to see SpaceX compete
for contracts to send astronauts or potentially colonies to the Moon
or Mars. After all, as the U.S. showed, the critical advance is
being able to put astronauts
in space. Once you've accomplished that, the sky's the
limit.

Note:
This story will be updated to reflect the results of the re-entry,
when it gets them. You can follow NASA's live Twitter
feed here.

Updated Wed. Dec. 8, 2010 11:45 p.m.-

After orbiting the earth at over 17,000 mph, the Dragon capsule completed its three hour flight this afternoon, successfully landing in the Pacific Ocean at around 2 p.m. EST. The craft landed approximately 500 miles off the coast of California.

With the successful launch SpaceX becomes the first commercial entity to join the elite club of LEO victors, that was previously occupied by governments of global superpowers. Only the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India and the European Space Agency have reached LEO, but now SpaceX has officially joined that list.

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

We're not at the end of space exploration, we're at the transition of the mundane from government to private hands, so the government can focus on exploration.

Lots of money is going to planetary probes, which is great. Money is going toward ouside-Earth-orbit manned missions. It's just the orbital missions that are being pawned off on the private sector, where it belongs.

Think about 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was Pan Am that was flying to orbit. To a space station of commercial interests. THAT is the future of space, we're just a little behind schedule.

The tech in 2010 (besides HAL) such as the moon base, space station, Discovery and the Space Liner is about 40~60 years away at our current rate...

But I doubt we'll ever get to Jupiter without improve space-engine technology and creation of a shield systems so the elements of space and the radiation from the SUN and Jupiter itself doesn't kill the humans. In 2001 ASO Book, they went even farther - Saturn.

"Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment -- same piece of hardware -- paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be." -- Steve Ballmer